“Call of the Lake”: One Man’s Efforts to Revitalize Rawa Pening

Abstract

The environment is an essential part of human life and civilization. Mankind lives by altering nature, especially by taking a part of nature in order to advance their livelihood. Years have passed since humans first discovered how to take advantage of nature. Lately, people treat nature more like an object of entertainment and a source of the economy rather than something to preserve and take care of for the next generations. Cheryll Glotfelty in The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology (1996) defines ecocriticism as a study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. Furthermore, it is stated that the role of the human being through literature is to take care of nature through an ecological approach. This short story will take the readers to Dewanto who’s saddened after seeing Lake Rawa Pening not as gorgeous as his late grandfather described on the brink of his life. His effort to see Lake Rawa Pening’s beauty by restoring Lake Rawa Pening is accompanied by villagers who live in the surroundings of Lake Rawa Pening. Unfortunately, Dewanto and the villagers’ efforts were mocked by outsiders and tourists who only come to Lake Rawa Pening for entertainment without the intention of keeping it clean. After reading the short story, the readers are encouraged to take simple action to preserve nature.